I'm the founding partner of Proteus International, and author of Growing Great Employees, Being Strategic, and Leading So People Will Follow. You can follow me on Twitter @erikaandersen. My websites are erikaandersen.com, and www.proteus-international.com. I'm insatiably curious. I love figuring out how people, situations and objects work, and how they could work better: faster, smarter, deeper, with greater satisfaction, more affection, and a higher fun quotient.

Happy in Denmark - How Come?

I’ve just come back from a wonderful, relaxing two-week vacation in Denmark. So I know why I was happy there: spending lots of time with my husband; catching up on my sleep; exploring beautiful old buildings; walking on the beach; eating great seafood.

But why was everybody else so happy?

It turns out that the Danes are the self-reported happiest people in the world. A group called The World Values Survey Association asked people in over 50 countries around the world to rate their personal happiness and their overall contentment with life on a scale of 1-10, and the folks in Denmark scored themselves higher, on average, than people in any other country.

Having just been there, I’m less surprised than I would have otherwise been: it seemed extraordinarily calm, clean and prosperous. Nearly everyone we met was relaxed, curious, helpful, and friendly. It’s not perfect – I know, for instance, that the Danes pay a huge amount in income taxes. But it looks like they get a lot for it; medical care and education are covered, childcare and parental leave policies are generous, public transport is good, the streets are safe.

However, I noticed one difference between Denmark and many other countries with a high level of socialized services: it seemed remarkably un-bureaucratic. Things were organized without being regimented or restrictive. As I’ve been reading more about Denmark since returning, I’ve stumbled upon an element that I think may be key to understanding the Danish happiness phenomenon – and one that also explains this unusual combination of simplicity and structure.

It turns out the Danes also have high levels of trust. They trust each other, the government, and they even trust ‘outsiders’ – visitors and foreign nationals who come to Denmark to live and work.

I’ve seen over and over that trust alone can bring ease and simplicity. There’s a great book that I’ve talked about before called The Speed of Trust. In it, Stephen M.R. Covey, the author (and son of Stephen R Covey of “7 Habits” fame) proposes that trust is a key business driver: that when trust between colleagues, and between a company and its customers, is high, business works faster and more cost-effectively: speed goes up, cost goes down.

Even more interesting, I discovered that the Speed of Trust website cites a study that shows Denmark tied for first place (with New Zealand and Singapore) as “the world’s most trusted countries.”

Putting this all together, I speculate that high trust = more ease, simplicity and productivity = happier citizens. Here’s a personal example. On the last day of our vacation we went to a small stable to go horseback riding. They didn’t take credit cards, and we didn’t have enough kroner on hand to cover the cost. We were about to get in the car and go to the nearest ATM, which the stable owner had told us was about a mile away. Then he said, “Look, it’s almost 3 and the ride’s about to start. Why don’t you just go riding, and then you can get the money and pay me after you get back.”

Remarkably high level of trust! And we were certainly happy with the interaction – and it seemed as though our stable owner was, as well.

So, if my speculations (and the research) are correct, and high trust is not only a business driver but also increases happiness, the question is: how can we increase trust at work, both within our organizations and between organizations and their stakeholders?

I’d love to hear your ideas about this…and I’ll be sharing both the ideas I hear from you and some ideas of my own in my next post.

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Great article Erika. I believe that there is a direct connection between happiness and trust. Trust in relationships ensures a degree of security and protection. When I trust you I know that you will look out for my best interests and not take advantage of my vulnerabilities. That level of security replaces fear and doubt in relationships with happiness and contentment.

In the workplace I think we need to remember the ABCD’s of trust. We build trust with others by being Able (competent in our roles & having a track record of success), Believable (being honest & acting with integrity), Connected (showing care & concern for others),and Dependable (being reliable; following through on commitments).

I am glad you enjoyed your trip to our lovely country Denmark. Trust has been a major pillar of the Danish society and much like the fictional Mayberry, for decades– we have left our doors open, sleeping babies can be found alone in their baby carriages outside cafes and shops and thieves were considered kooky and sweet. A small country with just 5 million persons can create such a provincial society! Unfortunately entering the EU has caused many of this to change due to higher crime rates, immigration issues and fraud. Danish lawmakers have been cracking down with tighter immigration laws and recently very controversial border controls in order to keep Denmark safe, trusting and in turn preserve happiness. As we see in this case, trust is earned. If your stable owner ever had a customer who didn’t pay, I can guarantee, he wouldn’t have acted as he did.

You are welcome to read my blog on Danish Happiness: http://blogs.denmark.dk/sharmi/

Thanks for commenting! I read your latest blog post, and my experience has also been that I most often attract what I expect and what I put out into the world. Not always, of course, but often enough that it does seem to be a kind of universal principle.

I also agree that “The Secret” was pretty corny, though with a grain of truth. Another movie you might like – more scientifically-based but talking about the same principles – is “What the Bleep Do We Know.”

I have always wondered why we cannot implement their great combination of capitalism and socialism here and I think you’ve explained succinctly. They have a homogeneous society (not by race or religion but state of mind and trust) that allows mutual trust. They don’t have the crime and welfare/medicare fraud we have and they are willing to close their gates to people who present a risk to that. We in the USA aren’t.

I attended a business seminar on committing to do what you say. The basic idea was that you will follow through on all your promises and if some unforeseen event prevents you from doing so, then you will tell the people affected right away and help deal with any problems you created.

When this level of personal accountability can be built up within the culture of an organization, then productivity and happiness increase.

This idea relates to trust, because when everyone is accountable for doing what they say, the level of trust skyrockets. Each person knows that they can count on what they have been told.

The idea can be illustrated by a group event that can’t be started until everyone arrives. If invitees know that a certain person is habitually late, then they may be tempted to show up late themselves, and eventually you are starting long after the scheduled time. On the other hand, if everyone knows that the other members are all committed to being on time, then you save all the second-guessing, waiting, and bad feelings.

You make a really great point; I also believe that focusing on personal accountability builds trust.

I’m writing a book about the qualities people look for in their leaders, and one of them is trustworthiness. When leaders do what they say they’re going to do, people in the organization – as you say – know they can count on what they’ve been told. They’re much more likely to respond in kind…

Nice article Erika, loved the trust factor and the way you have elaborated Trust. Yes, trust is vital part of every relationship and both can grow hands in hand. Would love to read more articles of yours.. Thanks for your valuable thoughts..